'A groundbreaking work . . . 
Federici has become a crucial figure 
for . . . 
a new generation of feminists' Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room\nA cult classic since its publication in the early years of this century, Caliban and the Witch is Silvia Federici's history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages through the European witch-hunts, the rise of scientific rationalism and the colonisation of the Americas, it gives a panoramic account of the often horrific violence with which the unruly human material of pre-capitalist societies was transformed into a set of predictable and controllable mechanisms. It Is a study of indigenous traditions crushed, of the enclosure of women's reproductive powers within the nuclear family, and of how our modern world was forged in blood.\n'Rewarding . . . allows us to better understand the intimate relationship between modern patriarchy, the rise of the nation state and the transition from feudalism to capitalism' Guardian

Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation (Penguin Modern Classics)

History

FEDERICI, SILVIA

World

Penguin Classics

What do we mean by Western Civilization? When did the expression originate and why? At a time when there is a widespread perception that Western Civilization is undergoing a historic crisis, and when postmodernism, feminist theory, afrocentrism, deconstruction, and other current philosophical schools define themselves as alternatives to, or critiques of, Western Civilization, this book seeks to trace the development of the concept of Western Civilization and to examine the reasons for its endurance. It also suggests ways in which proponents of Western Civilization can co-opt ideas from opponents.
Written from a multidisciplinary viewpoint, the essays in this volume trace the development of the concept of Western Civilization and seek to explode many standing beliefs―primarily those which concern the very existence of a Western tradition. Bound to be controversial, the book will be of interest to scholars and activists in the fields of cultural history, anthropology, and the history of ideas, as well as general readers interested in the enduring discussion of the notion of Western Civilization.

Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization and Its "Others"

Americas

Praeger

Enduring Western Civilization: The Construction of the Concept of Western Civilization and Its Others

In summer 2013 Triple Canopy invited writers, artists, scientists, activists, economists and technologists to bet on the future: which future do you want to see realized? How precisely can you describe it? What demands might this future make on the present? The answers were presented as Speculations ("The future is ______"), 50 days of lectures and discussions at MoMA PS1, Triple Canopy's contribution to the exhibition EXPO 1: New York. This book, a lexicon of the central terms of Speculations, conveys the relationship between ideation and action and suggests viable approaches to interpreting and changing the world. Triple Canopy considers economic interventions ("guaranteed basic income"), political abstractions ("autonomy," "prometheanism"), figments of the imagination ("planetary colonization"), modes of expression ("science fiction") and useful neologisms ("hedge-fund utilitarians").

Speculations (The future is ______) (TRIPLE CANOPY)

Arts & Photography

Parenti, Christian

Chiang, Ted

Reddy, Srikanth

Kushner, Rachel

Galchen, Rivka

Paglen, Trevor

Graeber, David

RIEFF, DAVID

Hayles, N. Katherine

DELANY, Samuel

Balakrishnan, Gopal

Brassier, Ray

Clayton, Jayce

Kline, Josh

Leeson, Lynn

Mohaiemen, Naeem

Morozov, Evgeni

Ngô, Hu+O+Ng

History & Criticism

Triple Canopy

Literary Nonfiction. CALIBAN AND THE WITCH is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and the conflict between body and mind are essential conditions for the development of labor power and self-ownership, two central principles of modern social organization. "It is both a passionate work of memory recovered and a hammer of humanity's agenda."—Peter Linebaugh, author of The London Hanged

Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Autonomedia

Written between 1975 and the present, the essays collected in this volume represent years of research and theorizing on questions of social reproduction and the consequences of globalization. Originally inspired by Federici's organizational work in the Wages for Housework movement, the topics discussed include the international restructuring of reproductive work and its effects on the sexual division of labor, the globalization of care work and sex work, the crisis of elder care, and the development of affective labor. Both a brief history of the international feminist movement and a contemporary critique of capitalism, these writings continue the investigation of the economic roots of violence against women.

Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle (Common Notions)

Business & Money

Economics

PM Press

The world is witnessing a new surge of interpersonal and institutional violence against women, including new witch hunts. This surge of violence has occurred alongside an expansion of capitalist social relation. In this new work, Silvia Federici examines the root causes of these developments and outlines the consequences for the women affected and their communities. She argues, that this new war on women, a mirror of witch hunts in 16th- and 17th-century Europe and the “New World,” is a structural element of the new forms of capitalist accumulation. These processes are founded on the destruction of people’s most basic means of reproduction. Like at the dawn of capitalism, the factors behind today’s violence against women are processes of enclosure, land dispossession, and the remolding of women’s reproductive activities and subjectivity.

Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women

In this edited collection of work spanning more than 20 years, Silvia Federici provides a detailed history and critique of the politics of the commons from a feminist perspective. In her clear and combative voice, Federici provides readers with an analysis of some of the key issues in contemporary thinking on this subject. Drawing on rich historical research, she maps the connections between the previous forms of enclosure that occurred with the birth of capitalism and the destruction of the commons and the “new enclosures” at the heart of the present phase of global capitalist accumulation. Considering the commons from a feminist perspective, this collection argues that women and reproductive work are crucial to both our economic survival and the construction of a world free from the capitalist hierarchies. Federici is clear that the commons should not be understood as happy islands in a sea of exploitative relations—but rather autonomous spaces from which to challenge the existing organization of life and labor.

Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons (Kairos)

With women’s anger, empowerment, and the critical importance of intersectional feminism taking center stage in feminist spaces right now, an anthology like this has never been more vital. The voices in this collection offer perspectives that help women find common ground. Through personal essays and interviews about what it is like to live as a woman (cis and trans) All of Me includes vulnerable, painful truths and bold inspiration. This anthology covers topics of social and economic justice, creativity, racism, transgender perspectives, sexuality, sex work, addiction, reproductive rights, assault, relationship dynamics, families, radical self-care, witchcraft, and more. Contributors include Silvia Federici, Michelle Cruz Gonzales, Ariel Gore, Laurie Penny, Lidia Yuknavitch, Christine No, Kandis Williams, Vatan Doost, Deya, Phoenix LeFae, Anna Silastre, Michel Wing, Bethany Ridendour, Lorelle Saxena, Airial Clark, Patty Stonefish, Nayomi Munaweera, Melissa Madera, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Leilani Clark, Ariel Erskine, Wendy-O Matik, Kara Vernor, Starhawk, adrienne maree brown, Gerri Ravyn Stanfield, Sanam Mahloudji, Melissa Chadburn, Avery Erickson, and Milla Prince.

All of Me: Stories of Love, Anger, and the Female Body

Biographies & Memoirs

Yuknavitch, Lidia

Gore, Ariel

Penny, Laurie

Cruz Gonzales, Michelle

Dani Burlison

Community & Culture

More than ever, “the body” is today at the center of radical and institutional politics. Feminist, antiracist, trans, ecological movements: all look at the body as a ground of confrontation with the state and a vehicle for transformative social practices. Concurrently, the body has become a signifier for the reproduction crisis generated by the neoliberal turn in capitalist development and for the international surge in institutional repression and public violence. In Beyond the Periphery of the Skin, lifelong activist and bestselling author Silvia Federici examines these complex processes, placing them in the context of the history of the capitalist transformation of the body into a work-machine, expanding on one of the main subjects of her first book, Caliban and the Witch. In this process she confronts some of the most important questions for contemporary radical political projects. What does “the body” mean, today, as a category of social/political action? What are the processes, institutional or anti-systemic, by which it is constituted? How do we dismantle the tools by which our bodies have been “enclosed” and collectively reclaim our capacity to govern them?

Beyond the Periphery of the Skin: Rethinking, Remaking, and Reclaiming the Body in Contemporary Capitalism (Kairos)

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

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